University of the South Papers Series A, No1

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University of the South Papers.

Series A, No. 1.

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ECCE QUAM BONUM.

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SEWANEE, TENN. 1888.

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Printed at the University of the South Press. -------------------------------------H. H. Dulie, University Printer.

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REPRINTS

OF THE

DOCUMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH,

PRIOR TO 1860.

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Edited by the Rev. Telfair Hodgson, D. D., Vice-Chancellor.

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A LETTER

TO

THE RIGHT REVEREND BISHOPS

OF

TENNESSEE, GEORGIA, ALABAMA, ARKANSAS, TEXAS, MISSISSIPPI, FLORIDA, SOUTH CAROLINA, AND NORTH CAROLINA,

FROM

THE BISHOP OF LOUISIANA.

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NEW ORLEANS

E. M. NORMAN, PUBLISHER

1856

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To: the Right Rev. J. H. OTEY, D. D. The Right Rev. S. ELLIOTT, D. D. The Right Rev. N. H. COBB, D. D. The Right Rev. G. W. FREEMAN, D. D. The Right Rev. W. M. GREEN, D. D. The Right Rev. F. H. RUTLEDGE, D. D. The Right Rev. T. F. DAVIS, D. D. The Right Rev. T. ATKINSON, D. D.

Right Reverend and Dear Brethren:

In considering the condition of that part of our country, in which our combined fields of labor lie, certain facts have presented themselves to my mind, and of so impressive a character, in view of our duties as citizens and our responsibilities as Bishops of the Church of God, that I have thought I could not hold myself excused if I failed to bring them to your notice. And my apology for attempting this will be found, I trust, in the importance of the subject; in the fact that it is one of common interest; and in the hope of its leading to the adoption of some plan for relieving a common necessity.

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{In a different hand: Archives of [?illegible] [?illegible] [?illegible] }

The population embraced in the states covered by the dioceses over which we preside, amounts in the aggregate to over 5,800,000. Upon the theory of our church, we are bound to regard ourselves as charged with making provision, to the best of our ability, for the spiritual welfare of all within the pale of our several jurisdictions.

Whatever shades of opinion there may be among us, as to the extent and authority of the commission we bear as chief ministers in the Church of Christ, we all agree in maintaining that if any hold such commissions, we are of their number. We believe our mission is from Christ himself, and that we are sent to those of our fellow men, who are embraced in the boundaries of the jurisdiction assigned us. Our mission is to all, as well to those who differ from, as those who agree with us, and we are bound by this conviction to concert measures, and adopt such combinations, as shall enable us to fulfill this mission with adequate power and efficiency.

Circumstances have placed a large proportion of this population under the control of other forms of religious opinion, or have left it free from all control of any kind. Whether for this condition of things the Church of the past, we now represent, is answerable or not, is not now the question. There is the fact. A large number of the inhabitants of our dioceses are not under our guidance. They are not the subjects of our instruction or of our influence. And yet our commission stands unalterably fixed. It is the same. The paucity of our numbers and our apparent feebleness are aside of the point. These may argue a defect in the manner, in which we or our predecessors have fulfilled the trust committed to our charge, and may well suggest the expediency of our canvassing thoroughly the causes producing such a result; but they furnish no ground for undervaluing the genuineness or authenticity of our commissions, or the obligations of others to inform themselves of its claims, and to respect its authority. Our course is plain. We have to do our work, and our whole work, in bringing men to Christ, and to be of one mind in Christ. We have not only to propagate the truth, but also the order of the Gospel; and this in the spirit of the Gospel. And I cannot doubt, if—freed from the trammels, which men of other age thought expedient to impose upon our Church action, and for these times wisely enough perhaps—we were to adopt certain measures, by which our strength could be concentrated, and our power to meet the demands proper to be made upon a Church of Christ, developed, we should speedily find ourselves recovering the ground we have lost; the prejudice

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and ignorance that now overspread the minds of many honest people dissipated; and themselves restored to that fold, from which they have strayed.

As to the trammels alluded to, these are not the subjects to which I would now invite your notice. They are in the hands of a commission of our own body, and will, no doubt, receive all the considerations to which they are entitled.

My present purpose is to call your attention to the obligation and duty, as well as high expediency, of attempting something more than is now being done by us as a Church, to strengthen our position and increase our capacity for usefulness in the dioceses over which we preside, by the establishment of some system of educational training, which shall provide for the instruction of the male portion of our charge, as well in academical as theological learning.

We are brought for the most part annually into contact with all the families attached to the Church in our several dioceses, and we are as often compelled to hear our people deplore the want of a suitable seminary or seminaries, at which their children might, obtain the advantages of a liberal education.

Institutions there are within the pale of all our dioceses, upon a more or less enlarged scale, and of greater or less excellence. They have been established either by State patronage, or founded by one or other of the religious denominations surrounding us, and are doing what they can—and in some instances with eminent and honorable success—to supply a public necessity; but whatever their degree of excellence may be, they do not meet the wants of our people.

In the minds of many, they are not upon a scale sufficiently extended or full to offer advantages comparable to those to be held abroad, or at the institutions of highest grade in the Northern States of our Union; and for that reason are set aside, and our children are expatriated or sent off to an inconvenient distance; beyond the reach of our supervision or parental influence, exposed to the rigors of an unfriendly climate, to say nothing of other influences not calculated, it is to be feared, to promote their happiness or ours.

These are some of the reasons why most of the institutions now existing among us or elsewhere, fail to meet the wants of our Church people. But there is a still more influential one, which is, that we have none, fairly within our reach, where our children, when they pass from under the parental eye in the preparatory

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school, are kept under the influence of those Christian principles and that Church instruction, to which we pledged them in baptism, which we have accepted and hold as of the essence of Christ’s religion, which we would transmit in their vigor to them and through them unmarred to our latest posterity.

This is a felt necessity. And one which every day grows more imperative. But it is a necessity which we and those who belong to the Church in our several dioceses, can alone meet, which it is our duty to meet, and which we have the ability to meet, which it is our duty to meet, and which we have the ability to meet, in a manner so enlarged and liberal as to leave nothing to be desired for the intellectual and religious culture of those for whom we are called upon to provide.

Our dioceses are all comparatively new, some of them but of yesterday. They must therefore be expected to be feeble—too feeble singly to rear any such establishments as could occupy the commanding position, or offer such advantages as I have indicated. And indeed if we had each the pecuniary ability. I should doubt the expediency, in view of the small number of our Church people, and the imperfect character of the primary education of our country generally, of employing that ability in establishing so many institutions of such a grade. But what we cannot do singly, we may with great ease, do collectively. And there are facts and circumstances which, as I believe, indicate the present as the period at which Providence seems to call us to rally to our mutual support and relief. I believe now is the time at which we may found such an institution as we need. An institution to be our common property, under our joint control, of a clear and distinctively recognized Church character, upon a scale of such breadth and comprehensiveness, as shall be equally in the liberality of it s provisions for intellectual cultivation to those of the highest class at home or abroad, and which shall fully meet the demands of those of our people, who require for their children the highest educational advantages, under the supervision of the Church.

But there is another school needed of a different character to which we, as Bishops of the Church, stand committed. Yet more fully; the necessity for which none are so well able to appreciate as ourselves. That is; one for training young men for the ministry. A Theological Seminary.

In pressing the importance of founding such a seminary, no apology is necessary to those of our brethren who in other dioceses have established similar institutions, under the idea of securing at the same time a claim on our co-operation and support. They have

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done well. And have merited, what I am sure we will be ever ready to accord, our hearty commendation for their sagacity, their zeal and their sacrifces, as well as our gratitude for allowing us to share in the avails of their labors. But it would be too much to expect us to offer them our candidates, after we had come to see very serious difficulties standing in the way, and have ascertained morover, that we had the ability to provide for them nearer home.

It is doubtless within the experience of us all, that many young persons of piety and zeal as Christians, are to be found in all our dioceses, whose minds and hearts would be turned to the ministry of the Church, if the facilities of a character to favor their being properly educated nearer home were presented. We encounter also sometimes persons not among the very young, which such facilities would go far toward inducing to think seriously of the same office. And I dare say it is not too much to affirm that much the larger part of all these are lost to the service of the Church for want of such facilities.

The importance of raising up the ministry from among those whom they are to serve—of a native ministry—is axiomatic, and a point not to be argued. The obligation to see that this is done rests primarily upon ourselves. The necessity of the thing, as well as its obligation and duty then being points conceded, how is it to be done in the most satisfactory and efficient manner? To be done efficiently and satisfactorily, it must be don thoroughly and with ability. And to be done with becoming ability would require an amount of pecuniary outlay, and other external support, beyond the reach of our dioceses separately. But to graft such a seminary upon the primary or collegiate institutions above indicated, would furnish an easy solution of our difficulty, and give us all we could desire. A single corps of professors would serve us all, and the means at the disposal of our dioceses severally poured into one channel, would swell the aggregate amount to a sum large enough to enable us to make such liberal provisions for the several chairs as would make them objects of attraction, and place at our command the highest talent. And what is true in this respect of the Theological, is equally true of the Academical and Collegiate departments.

It is true, as I have remarked, we are in our several dioceses, compared with other religious organizations, a small body, but it is to be feared we have more power than we have used for the purposes of which we speak. It is certain we have not now in exist-

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ence, as far as I know, a single seminary for the instruction of boys, under the distinct appointment or control of the Church, rising to the level of a first class grammar school. Granting our numbers not to be large, yet considering the intelligence and wealth of our people, this fact seems hardly compatible with the duties of good citizenship, hardly in keeping with the obligation every man owes his country, to bring the whole of his influence, whether individual or associated, to bear upon the advancement of the common intelligence. As others have the power to serve State, by combining or concentrating their denominational strength, and founding schools or colleges, open to all, so have we, and it is for us to settle it with ourselves and answer to the country, which is ours as well as theirs, for failing to employ for its benefit that power of influence which the intelligence, wealth and social position of our people gives us for that purpose.

How, then, can we rest satisfied, with the amplest means at our disposal, with all the intellectual culture required to organize, direct and give efficiency to the most satisfactory plans for the education of the children of the Church and the State, while we are supinely allowing others to discharge duties for which we are so deeply responsible? Are we not thereby depriving the children of the Church of their privileges , and the Church of her proper office, as well as cutting her off from an amount of power of usefulness to those who are without, to which she is entitled, and which our consent and co-operation are alone wanted to secure her ? Indeed, I cannot conceive of an agency more powerful for good, in the largest sense, than such institutions as those now respectfully proposed. By their estalblishment we might serve the State by founding schools, we have the means of making equal to any on the continent, which would be of course open to all, which would relieve our own people of the necessity of sending their children away, for that education they are entitled to at home, and would, while they required the highest standard of intellectual development, breathe that spirit of chastened and dignified conservatism for which the Church is so confessedly distinguished.

As to their effect on the interests of the Church, as such, in the Southern portion of our Union, it would e difficult to estimate them.

But before considering these, I beg leave to call your attention to certain facts which seem to point to the locality at or about which Providence seems to direct our minds, as that most appro-

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